The OFFICIAL Liverpool Supporters thread

[laoislad]

anyone know if Alonso is fit tomorrow?
Surely we should record our first away win tomorrow

[Carmen Stateside]

Alonso is ready for tomorrow  hope our strikers are

[Hank Everlast]

needs a big result today... important to keep another clean sheet!

[laoislad]

4-0 can't complain.Bellamy is a thick little **** though isn't he,can't keep his bleeding mouth shut,good goals though!!

[J70]

Hopefully this game will break the spell like the 5-1 result against Fulham did last season when Liverpool couldn't score.

Eight clean sheets in nine games as well. Maybe the quality of the opposition wasn't the best, but you have to start somewhere. It remains to be seen if they start scoring regularly enough though. One result means nothing.

[Carmen Stateside]

What did you all think of the new formation?? Didnt get to see it but getting good reports! Will Rafa stick with it?? Guess he could try it again in Istanbul............ ohh ISTANBUL  what great memorys!

[laoislad]

What a memory!!!!!

[never kickt a ball]

What do you call the guy in the suit? Wonder what he's texting?

[Carmen Stateside]

Nice one!!!

[never kickt a ball]

could start a new thread on its own carmen, or should i say artie?

[never kickt a ball]

Liverpool v arsenal in 3rd round of FA Cup. Nice!!!

[stiffler]

what about larssons last game for utd being at anfield? i would be gutted if he scored past us. heres hoping hes injured or suspended that day!

[never kickt a ball]

Stiffler. He doesn't join until January. Lots can happen from now to then and he might never play for Man Utd. IE Injury etc

[GalwayBayBoy]

Liverpool prepare for Arab takeover

Oliver Kay



Liverpool are close to accepting a £450 million deal that will allow a consortium from Dubai to become the latest overseas investors in English football. After a three-year search, the Merseyside club's board believes that it has found the right deal to secure its long-term future and will allow the Dubai International Capital group (DIC), a subsidiary of the Arab state's government, to begin the due diligence process this week.
The news will spark a mixture of emotions among Liverpool supporters, but David Moores, the chairman, and Rick Parry, the chief executive, believe it is a deal that will allow the club to re-establish themselves at the summit of English football. Under the terms of the proposals, it is believed that DIC — effectively owned by the al-Maktoum family, the billionaire rulers of Dubai — will take on the club's £80 million debts and provide up to £200 million for a new 60,000-capacity stadium, in addition to meeting Moores's £170 million valuation of the club.



In theory, this would allow work to start on the stadium in Stanley Park within months, while also providing funds for Rafael Benítez, the manager, to compete at the top end of the transfer market, but it is too early to say whether it would generate the kind of money that has enabled Roman Abramovich to turn Chelsea into the world's richest club — or indeed whether Liverpool, a club based on tradition and sensible housekeeping, would even favour such an approach.

Liverpool have attracted offers from several other bidders, most recently George Gillett, the American billionaire, and John Miskelly, the Belfast-born property tycoon, but after serious consideration they are understood to have granted DIC, a subsidiary of the government-owned Dubai Holdings, due diligence, which gives them exclusive rights to study their accounts with a view to finalising a deal.

The precise details of the proposals remain unclear, with uncertainty over whether it will be a full-scale takeover or whether DIC will merely take over from Moores as majority shareholders. It is also unclear whether Moores, whose family has been part of the furniture in the Anfield boardroom for 50 years, will stay in some capacity, but there have been indications that Parry will continue as chief executive.

Unlike the Glazer family's takeover of Manchester United last year, there is no great opposition to overseas investment in Liverpool, with many supporters regarding it as an opportunity to restore the club to the glory days of the 1970s and 1980s. There were serious concerns expressed when Thaksin Shinawatra, then Prime Minister of Thailand, made a high-profile bid to invest in the club in May 2004, but they had more to do with Thailand's human rights record than with the principle of overseas ownership.

There is certain to be concern, however, within the FA Premier League, which is known to be worried by the number of its clubs that have fallen into foreign ownership. In addition to Manchester United and Chelsea, Aston Villa, Portsmouth and West Ham United are all now owned by overseas investors.

[GalwayBayBoy]

Chris Bacombe, Liverpool Echo


CHRIS BASCOMBE traces the history of missed chances and false promises over the years

IT IS appropriate that Liverpool head back to the scene of their greatest comeback today.

Off the pitch, the most lucrative deal in the club's history, with a man wealthier than Roman Abramovich, will be noted by generations to come as a fightback of equal significance.

With the clock ticking on the club's dreams of building a £180m stadium, a three-year pursuit for investment is finally on the brink of conclusion, ensuring that the Stanley Park plans proceed.

The stakes could not have been higher for the Liverpool hierarchy, with the temperature within the boardroom increasing daily.



A multi-million pound deal with one of the richest economies on the planet would represent a stunning hat-trick for chairman David Moores and chief executive Rick Parry.


Not only have they ensured that the Stanley Park stadium can be built, but the resources Rafael Benitez craves should also be available.


More significantly, the long-term financial security of Liverpool Football Club would be strengthened through an alliance with one of the richest and most stable economies on earth.


To put it into perspective, Liverpool's last strategic partnership, when Granada purchased a 9.9% stake for £21m in 1999, looks no more than a generous handshake with a Big Issue salesman in comparison to the wealth and powerof the United Arab Emirates.


And although the imminent agreement should not be compared with the Roman Abramovich takeover of Chelsea, even the Russian looks like a pauper when stood alongside the UAE royal family, who are ultimately the power behind Dubai International.


The wealth of the Emirate states is measured in trillions, not billions.


Their pockets are deep, and if a successful Liverpool Football club becomes their ambition, their financial insecurities can be consigned to history.


The first priority of the club is to safeguard the stadium plans so the Dubai group should not be seen as an Abramovich style benefactor willing to sign the cheques which will allow Benitez to make Chelsea-style bids for players.


Fans or rival clubs expecting an instant series of £20m offers for the world's top stars would be misinterpreting the deal.


But as well as helping to pay for the stadium, it would be illogical if funds were not also made available to the manager. The concerns he's expressed should be eased, if not completely eradicated.


That said, it would also be unwise for Liverpool to advertise an increased transfer kitty too publicly.


As the board said at last year's AGM, "all roads lead to investment". After hitting a cul-de-sac for so long, Liverpool can now drive forward unobstructed.


If the process concludes as well as anticipated over the next three weeks, Parry and Moores can share a glass of bubbly with a sense of relief, triumph and satisfaction of a job, eventually, well done.


The process of attracting investment has been painful, emotional and expensive.


The chairman was on the brink of resigning in public on at least two occasions, while behind the scenes he was tantalisingly close to selling part of his stake to rival Steve Morgan.


Morgan valued the club at £70m and vowed to invest millions more, but he refused to proceed with a deal which would see Moores claim 51% of his bid.


Either side of the local entrepreneur's forlorn proposal, the club flirted with some of the richest men on the planet, with Parry clocking up air miles with a prolific zeal.


The lowest point was arguably Parry's meeting with Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra in May, 2004.


When the Liverpool chief executive was pictured in Bangkok, it provoked a furious reaction from human rights campaigners, urging the Reds to steer clear of such dirty money. The meeting with US businessman RobertKraft last season was greeted more enthusiastically, but Parry's trip to America was as much a fact finding mission as arealistic bid for cash.


Kraft financed his New England Patriots American football stadium by entering a partnership with Gillette.


While the Thai and American links led to brief media hysteria, Liverpool were still no closer to securing investment.


Less publicised interest emerged from Arab countries, with the Abu Dhabi government understood to be showing their interest in late 2005, and investment groups from Saudi Arabia and Dubai increasingly linked with stadium sponsorship.


An alternative plan would see Liverpool follow the Arsenal blueprint and take a £200m loan from a variety of banks.


However, this strategy was incredibly risky, effectively mortgaging Liverpool's future based on a decade of Champions League participation.


Parry wisely advised against this from the start.


A plan to move to a new stadium was first announced in 2000, but the unpredictability of football threatened to scupper the club's plans.


When Parry confidently unveiled his vision for Liverpool's future, no fan could foresee the economic mis-fortune ahead.


Liverpool were seemingly heading in the right direction under the leadership of a visionary French manager.


Two years on, the Reds were not even in the European Cup.


Major investment in the squad was rewarded with a series of dud signings, and the manager and his back-room team eventually left at a cost of £20m.


While the team failed to raise capital, the stadium costs threatened to spiral out of control. Feasibility studies were undertaken at huge expense, while the Northwest Development Agency seemed reluctant to provide the grant.


Liverpool were urged to reopen the shared stadium debate in order to cut costs. Parry steadfastly fought against these outside pressures, maintaining his confident stance that he would deliver.


By November 2006, Belfast businessman and lifelong Liverpool fan John Miskelly appeared to be in pole position.


He valued the club at £140m, preparing to pay £4,000 a share to take control of the club. In addition, he was prepared to consider ploughing in a further £80m to underwrite stadium costs and provide manager Rafa Benitez with a transfer kitty.


Rival bidders were prepared to pay £4,400 ashare, valuing Liverpool at more than £150m.


Parry and Moores also met George Gillett Jnr, an American businessman best known as the owner of Canadian Montreal Ice Hockey team and former owner of the Harlem Globetrotters.


But Gillett also favoured are opening of the shared stadium debate with Everton, which meant Liverpool were less enthusiastic about his interest.


Parry knew his regular jaunts to the United Arab Emirates offered a regular chink of light in pursuit of investment. The Abu Dhabi government-owned Etihad Airways were close to agreeing a shirt sponsorship deal 12 months ago.


Approaches to Arab investors were increasing in frequency and it was hoped a major investment deal would be struck ahead of last year's AGM, which was deliberately delayed.


Dubai International had negotiated with Liverpool before, but chairman Moores has always been adamant he'd only sell shares to the right bidder.


After years of criticism, Parry and Moores can now justifiably argue they have delivered the goods.


With investment on the brink of being secured, a new stadium backin the realm of reality and transfer funds surely to be made available to Benitez, Liverpool fans can soon allow themselves a smile as bright as one of their chief executive's famously eccentric shirts.





DUBAI is one of seven states which make up the United Arab Emirates.


Oil was discovered there in the 1960s, but has now been replaced by tourism as the most lucrative income source.


Dubai City, located on the coast of the Persian Gulf, is growing faster than any city on earth.


The state's beaches, which stretch for 25 miles, are currently home to almost $100bn worth of development projects either underway or planned.


Dubai International Capital (DIC) was established in 2004 as the international investment arm of Dubai Holdings